Sony, TSMC Win Award for Silicon-Plastic Process Development

The American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) has given Sony DADC BioSciences and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. its Best Abstract of Interest to the Industry Division Award for 2014.

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The winning paper, "Versatile Electrical Platform for Accelerated Development and Commercialization of In-Vitro Diagnostic Assays," describes a process to integrate a silicon biosensor into a microfluidic chip with the potential to create cost-effective, mass-fabricated point-of-care (POC) devices with better sensitivity and higher robustness than any commercially available solution.

The research combines Sony DADC BioSciences' OEM manufacturing of smart polymer-based consumables and TSMC's expertise in silicon biosensor manufacturing. It is aimed at overcoming a major hurdle for further development of POC devices by improving material compatibility and positional alignment between silicon and plastics.

The two companies have produced a demonstrator manufactured by TSMC and complemented by solid-state bonding of silicon to micro-structured plastics developed by Sony DADC BioSciences. Both companies will engage in discussions with diagnostic industry leaders as early adopters of the new manufacturing techniques to integrate biosensors.

"Sony DADC BioSciences has enjoyed the cooperative development with TSMC to create a novel silicon-plastic fluidic interface which enables simple integration of microfluidic functionalities like filters, mixers, valves and pumps while ensuring a robust sample input and waste management," Christoph Mauracher, senior vice president at Sony DADC BioSciences, said in a press release.

This award was presented at the 2014 AACC Annual Meeting and Clinical Lab Expo, the world's largest laboratory medicine exposition, and has been presented eight times since 2005.